Man charged with spying in Poland held for three months over rail photos

Police found several hundred thousand files, mainly of railway, airport and telecoms sites in Poland and abroad, plus four Russian passports. The case now goes to prosecutors in Wrocław.

A Polish court has ordered three months of detention for a Russian man charged with spying for a foreign intelligence service against Poland. Police caught him photographing trains in Świdnica in October. They found several hundred thousand files on the secured devices. Most were photos of railway tracks, trains, stations, airports and telecommunications infrastructure in Poland and abroad. Police also secured four Russian-issued passports.

Fires have hit an industrial site and a communications station in recent months. In late August 2026, a drone-components plant in Skarżysko-Kamienna and an aircraft-parts facility in Lublin burned, and in September a Starlink station near Warsaw was set on fire, Politico reported. European officials point to a rise in Russian sabotage in recent months. They say Putin wants to disrupt military support for Ukraine and raise the cost of backing Kyiv.

Police in Świdnica detained the 55-year-old Russian citizen in October while he photographed trains and railway infrastructure, according to the Polish government's news service. Officers then searched his car and apartment, the service reported. The searches secured cameras, phones, laptops, a tablet, drives and other memory media. Police also found four Russian-issued passports, the service reported. The government service gave no date for the searches.

The case will now go to the National Prosecutor's Office's organized crime and corruption unit in Wrocław, according to the government's news service. The charge against the man falls under Article 130 § 1 of the Penal Code, the service reported. The offence carries a prison term of no less than five years, the service said.

The scale shows in the count of files. Several hundred thousand were stored on the cameras, phones, laptops, tablet and drives that police seized, according to the Polish government's news service. The files hold photos mainly of railway tracks, locomotives, trains, stations, airports and telecommunications infrastructure in Poland and abroad. A single trip through Świdnica ended with the seizure of devices carrying a catalogue of networks built over years.